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Farmers count cost of coal seam gas rush

Updated
Mon 21 Feb 2011, 11:46 PM AEDT

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Drilling for gas: Queensland's new coal seam gas industry is booming.

Arlie Douglas: ABC Rural

The company behind a $15 billion coal seam gas development in Queensland is being investigated for damaging an underground water source within the Great Artesian Basin system, Monday's Four Corners program reveals.

The incident was uncovered by a sleuthing Queensland farmer, Anne Bridle, as she investigated rumours of a fracking mishap near her beef and grain property in Dalby.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves blasting a mixture of water, sand and diluted chemicals into a well to help open coal seams, increasing gas production.

The problems arose when Queensland Gas Company (QGC) fracked its Myrtle 3 well, connecting the Springbok aquifer to the coal seam below, the Walloon Coal Measures, in 2009.

Ms Bridle has raised several concerns: that chemicals used in the process - which included 130 litres of THPS - may have migrated into the water supply; that water from the different aquifers could intermingle, affecting the water quality; and also that water levels in the aquifer could fall.

The company did not alert authorities or nearby water users about the problem until 13 months after the incident.

"Ultimately there's no-one checking to see what happens under the ground. The accountability is not there," Mrs Bridle said.

Worried about her own cattle, she probed further but found the safety data sheet QGC had submitted for the fracking chemical THPS was American, incomplete and 10 years out of date.

Chemical management expert Mariann Lloyd-Smith also examined the documents and believes the company may be in breach of the national safety code governing toxic chemicals.

Federal and state government regulators put a total of 1,500 conditions on QGC's Curtis LNG Project when they approved it late last year.

But Dr Lloyd-Smith believes the company's safety sheets - used in its recent Environment Authority application - are not up to scratch.

Under a national code, safety data sheets on chemicals used must contain information on Australian emergency contacts and regulations and be written within the past five years.

QGC says it does not believe it has breached the regulations.

After extensive testing, Mrs Brindle's cattle were cleared of any contamination - their water had come from a different aquifer.

'Relatively minor'

In a statement, QGC said interconnectivity between the two bodies existed naturally before drilling. However, during drilling the company "unintentionally provided a route for water in the aquifer" to enter the well, adding the water flow had been "relatively minor".

Monitoring had indicated there had been no impact on the water source's quality or levels and steps were being taken to fix the problem, it said.

"QGC believes the risk to human health or to water supply, or to both, have been negligible," the statement said.

"Notwithstanding, QGC understands the Bridles' fears and is doing all it reasonably can to alleviate them."

The Queensland Government - which on Friday announced the establishment of its new LNG enforcement unit - is still investigating the 2009 fracking incident.

"Any company that thinks they can get away with not informing the appropriate authorities when things go awry can expect to be investigated and appropriate punishment... to be meted out," Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said.

Monday's Four Corners looks at the daily realities behind Queensland's burgeoning new coal seam gas industry, and meets farmers on the ground whose lives have unwittingly become caught up in the gas boom.